Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

crenigma478 Recently, the loss of Alan Rickman reminded me of how perfect he was in this film, and as a result, how much I love the film.If you like movies that continually surprise you with twists and turns, you will love every part of Nobel Son. Though the film was released nearly a decade ago, if it came out this week..it would feel brand new. It has high tech story telling, an edgy and cool soundtrack, and terrific performances from its ensemble cast...one of those being the always cool Eliza Dushku. You would also be hard pressed to find anything like what I consider to be the most memorable scene of the film..which involves a shopping mall and a car. Once you see the scene i'm referencing..you'll see what makes this a must watch film!As a side note...if you were ever a fan of a short lived TV Show called October Road..you'll be in for a reunion of sorts, with two of its stars Bryan Greenberg and Lindy Booth appearing in the film.Bottom Line..If you haven't seen it..give it a try, if you have..try it again. It makes you remember the great talent we lost this year, but in many ways it also feels like it always had an eye on the future!

MBunge This is one of the worst written movies I've ever watched…and that's saying a lot. It compounds that by having one of the most annoying and intrusive soundtracks I've ever heard…and that's saying a lot. If Nobel Son had not had such a talented cast, I think I would have slit my throat before getting halfway through it.Barkley Michaelson (Bryan Greenberg) is a hapless sad sack who's working on his PhD thesis on cannibalism and trying to survive on a piddling allowance from his father. Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman) is an insufferable a-hole who mistreats everyone around him, including his family and the women he screws on the side, and has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Sarah Michaelson (Mary Steenburgen) is a forensic psychologist who…well, that's pretty much it for her. Sarah's about as generic and undefined a character as you get. The only reason she's a forensic psychologist and not a go-go dancer is that she needs to have the more impressive job to mouth a few lines of dialog that I'm sure the writers of this disaster were way too proud of.Just as the Michaelson family is about to fly to Stockholm to see Eli receive his prize, Barkley is kidnapped by Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy) and held for $2 million ransom. Thaddeus claims to be the spawn of one of Eli's affairs and wants revenge for Eli stealing his Nobel Prize winning idea from Thaddeus' non-biological father, who killed himself when he realized his wife had cheated on him with Eli. Even though Thaddeus kidnaps Barkley, their mutual animosity towards Eli causes them to team up and turn it into a fake kidnapping where they will split the money.Their scam succeeds, but then Thaddeus turns up to rent a room in the Michaelson's house and starts ingratiating himself with Eli, which seems to send Barkley around the bend and starts a game of cat-and-mouse where it's clear who the cat is but not always who's the mouse. Throw in a detective (Bill Pullman) with the hots for Sarah and an obviously unstable poet (Eliza Dushku) who boinks Barkely, and that's Nobel Son.I'm sure there are some dullards out there impressed with the many plot twists of this fast-moving piece of garbage. That's because they never notice the underlying story here doesn't make a lick of sense.Eli treats his wife like crap, even holding her up for public ridicule in front of all of his colleagues. In the entire film, there's only 30 seconds where these two characters show any affection or connection to each other and that happens 40 minutes into the movie. Is there any explanation for why Sarah, a smart woman with her own career, has stayed with this verbally and emotionally abusive bastard for so many years? No. Eli has nothing but contempt and disdain for Barkley, yet still very much wants him to be there when Eli gets his Nobel. Is there any explanation for that? No! When Eli gets the call about his son being kidnapped, he immediately assumes Barkley is pulling some sort of scam. That's a fairly bizarre first reaction, no matter how much ill will exists between them. Is there any explanation of why Eli would ever think Barkely could think up, let alone actually pull off, such an extreme deception? No!! The Almighty Plot Hammer needs a character to disappear to set up the film's conclusion. Is there any explanation of where she went or what happened to her? No!!! After the first 3/4ths of Nobel Son establishes Thaddeus as a violent, sociopathic genius who knows everything about everyone and crafts incredibly intricate plans, in the last 1/4th he becomes a quivering buffoon who doesn't have a clue what the hell he's doing. Is there any explanation for that transformation? NO!!! Is the audience ever given a single reason to sympathize or identify with Barkley, a limp wristed and pretentious douche who's too damn lazy to get a job so he doesn't have to live on a $35 dollar allowance from his jerk of a daddy? NOOOOOOO!!!!!Oh, and even though Nobel Son is clearly set in 2007, the entire plot is dependent on no one in the film having a cell phone. If even one character had a cell, none of the story would have worked at all.This movie is just filled with stuff that falls apart if you think about any of it for more than two seconds. Intensifying the painful suckage is this irritating techno pop music that co-writer/director Randall Miller constantly slathers over almost every scene. Watching Nobel Son is like being a quadriplegic fan of Beethoven and Bach stuck in a warehouse while a teenage rave with the worst synthesized music in the world goes on around you.This motion picture is almost as terrible as the most wretched thing to ever burst out of the mind of Michael Bay. Don't watch it.

imdb-21622 First off, I was sucked into the movie. I mention this, because so few movies grab my attention.I think the acting was pretty good. Ever since Die Hard, I always liked the actor who played the father. The son was perfectly fine as well. I really liked City Hall, but the plot called for little of her. I think the mom could have shown a little more emotion, but otherwise solid. Really, I can't criticize the acting here.The plot was not particularly innovative, but had a few interesting tweaks.The camera work seemed pretty standard. I think the modern technique calls for a lot more camera movement, which I don't always care for.Parts of the movie were a bit disturbing. That's a personal thing, and what I found disturbing, others may have found amusing.My main complaint was that the movie seemed to shift a bit late in the movie. It felt like they ran out of time and had to cram a ton of stuff into the last 30 minutes. It wasn't that I was lost. I followed the story. But it was a bit unsatisfying. Had the final 30 minutes of the film been more solid, I think maybe I would have given it a 6 out of 10.

brent cole This really was a hard film to watch. And considering many of these known actors are usually quite good I have to assume that the Director wanted to take a fine group of actors and make them look and act as bad as possible. Or this was made with a lot of favors and now lost friendships. The lighting was horrific. Either that or the cast has aged twenty years recently. Mary, Bill; everyone except Danny looked like they had become old soft and wrinkled over night. The dialogue........who on earth wrote the dialogue. Yeah this in one of those films where you see a cast of mismatched actors who have aged and no one wants to hire them. So they take a film, any film and grab the pay check. EXCEPT that this particular group of actors are NOT that. These are all good actors, these are wonderful actors. And when I see wonderful actors who work in a show like this I have to guess a favor is at hand.